A Christian Documentary

On the radio recently, I heard about a documentary called Lord Save us from your followers

a movie about why Christians are so divisive in this world.

so i went to The Search to read his review about the movie. Pretty interesting, See for yourself.

Namaste

Tonight, I had the pleasure of joining in on a Yoga/meditation session with my Aunt and Uncle at the local Unity Church. It has been someting that has peaked my interest for sometime. They lead the sessions every Tues. night. The meditation lasted for about 30 minutes and I used that time to pray, earnestly, sincerely; to call out God's name and claim His presence; to recite the truth found in Scripture; to pray for each person in that room that the Name of Jesus and the truch that He is alive and his redemptive power be so overwhelming that each person not be able dismiss it. There was an emptiness in the room and I prayed for God's presence to penetrate that room. The feeling of oppression is uncomfortable but God is victorious and his peace passes all understanding. Namaste is the term used in yoga for "the light within me honors the light within you." But if they only knew that Jesus is the Light, the Truth, and the Way. A Oneness blessing was given at the end of the session in which the giver (leader) allows the "divine" to pass through him onto the receiver (me). I hope that my openess to being a part this with my relatives allows a more open conversation to flow between us about Christ and his Redemptive truth.

A Taste of the Big Apple

times square

9/16 & 9/17

We are here in New York City celebrating our 9 year anniversary. The place we are renting is a cute 1 bedroom apartment in the Upper West Side of Manhattan -which is more beautiful and more large than i pictured it in my head. It is located about 1 block from Central Park. The area is beautiful and the weather has been gorgeous. We are 1 block away from ABC studios so i went down there around 9:45 to see a few hundred people throw custard pies at each other outside. It was for Regis and Kelly and maybe some Guiness World Record thing. The street was a mess, but the air smelled like Custard. Mike didn't go with me because the handyman had to stop by and fix the toilet. After the first morning flush, it wouldn't stop swirling, so it took him about an hour to put a new part on it. At least it didn't overflow. The rest of the day we walked and walked and walked taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells of NYC until we were so tired we decided to use the subway. Our tourist stops were Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, of course a slice of pizza for lunch from La Beleca and dessert later that night at the famed Magnolia Bakery.

view from boat heading toward statue of liberty and looking back at the city

Luggage from 1500's inside building at Ellis Island

9/18

A morning walk through central park, It is only 2 blocks from our apartment, led us to the Museum of Biblical Art. It was 2 rooms filled with sketches from Biblical stories and old Bibles from the 1500's. We walked to the Museum of Modern Art and found out that on Fridays from 4-8 it is free, and since we like free we decided to come back. Next, we took the tour to Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center and it was such an amazing view to see the whole city skyline. Unfortunately we never made it back to MOMA because we met an old highschool friend of Mike's at Bryant park. She works at HBO. By this time, I had a growing headache. After chatting in the park for an hour or so, we rode the subway, grabbed a bite to eat at a local Chinese/Japanese restaurant on the Upper West Side. I felt so sick i couldn't finish the meal. We left early and by 8:30 I was asleep in bed. I still feel bad about it, but i slept for 12 hours, so i guess i needed the rest.

view from Top of the Rock

9/19

Today was the trip to the World Trade Center. First we visited St. Paul's Chapel which is the church directly across the street from where the Twin Towers came down. It was a haven for many rescue workers at that time and apparently the oldest public building in Manhattan and the place that George Washington worshipped after his inauguration. Inside they have dedicated it as a memorial to the 9/11 victims and rescue workers. There is a beautiful yet tattered quilt that was handmade about the story of a mom telling her son that his father wouldn't come home after the bombings that day and she told her son that God reached down with his hands and picked up Daddy and took him to Heaven, to which the son responded, "Does God enough hands?" I could not hold back the tears.

St. Paul's Chapel

The memorial that the city is planning is amazing.

we ate lunch outside by the water and it was such a beautiful day taking in the view of the statue of liberty. Came back to the apartment to rest and pack. Took the subway down to the West Village to walk around and eat dinner. There was a really large outside market with a lot of vintage jewelry, clothing, shoes, as well as food, and scarves, and you name it. Almost bought 2 pair of cowboy boots but the man didn't know what size they were, so no cowboys in our house yet. Dinner was at the best gluten free restaurant (and only so far) that i have been to. I had risotto with asparagus and saffron and mike had pizza (what else and not gluten free). It was FANTASTIC! I am pretty sure that besides this meal and one lunch we shared every other meal that we ate. The food here is so expensive, and so delicious! It is also a good thing that we walked EVERYWHERE, we didn't take a taxi once, just the subway a few times. Our feet are tired but we saved money and burned calories. I also think that i enjoyed the city more by walking, i felt like a local in my own small town community even though we were surrounded by such huge buildings and a gazillion people. I cannot leave out our dessert tonight is was gelato from GROM and it reminded me just like the gelato in Italy that i get to put in my mouth in less than a month from now !!!

Took a final stroll through Central Park this evening and I must say it is so Pretty! Our stoll took us past Tavern on the Green which is absolutely beautiful with all the lanterns hanging from the trees.

us on Bleecker street

Overall we fell in love with the city, more with each other, and now we are ready to return to our two little ones who we miss so dearly.

Bright and early tomorrow.

9/20

up early at 3:15 am to catch our flight at 6am

it is so good to be home!

Our Restaurant choices while here in NYC and how we rated them:

1. Best Bruchetta: Cafe Fiorello (upper west side)

2. Great Asian Fusion: Spice Market (meat packing district)

3. Greatest Risotto and incredible gluten free food: Risotteria (west village)

4. Best American Gelato: GROM (west village)

5. Best NY pizza by the slice: La Beleca (near Bryant Park)

6. Best dessert: Magnolia Bakery (upper west side)

A conversation

At dinner time tonight:

O: " Mom, can we make some angels?"

C: "I want to be an angel for Halloween"

Me: " Did you know that God's angels are super strong and have spears and swords to fight against the evil forces?"

C: " no, wow, and they ride horses"

somehow story changes to

C: " like the people who hid inside the horse and told the other people it was a present and then they came out of the horse."

Me: dumbfounded that he was talking about the Trojan War:
"wait, where did you hear that story?

C: "in my horse book, why did the king want to give them a present?"

Me: explained that the horse was a trick so the Greeks could surprise them and occupy their land

C: " what does occupy mean?"

Me: "take over someone's land, and did you know that we need God's angels to fight for us because the Devil tries all kinds of tricks to occupy our heart, and we need to make sure that only Jesus occupies our heart." explanation a little more involved but that is the short version

C: " like David wanted to occupy Goliaths land?"

Me: "it was the other was around, Goliath and the Philistines wanted to occupy Israels land"


5 minutes later:
C: " mom, i want to occupy your land"

story ending with C lying on the floor pretending to be Goliath hit by David's stone




i love these conversations

a few minutes later however there were major meltdowns of both boys over having to wear jeans to church tonight. I lost my patience and lashed out at them. which has been happening too much lately. I need to remember myself to not let pride, selfish, impatience, and discontent occupy my heart, but the KING of Kings who can wash me white as snow and make me pure again.

Fishing Fiasco

It started out to be a promising day... Weather was great, Kids were excited, Fishing poles were set...Today was going to be the first fishing lesson for some eager boys.

GranDaddy even joined us to offer help, bond with the kids, and try to catch a few.

Then Mommy, had to give it a try...enough said

I thought for sure I would be the lucky one to reel in the big fish

that no one else seemed to be able to catch.

On my second cast, (because my first didnt go past the grass) instead of catching a fish, I caught the TREE!

How you may ask?

I have no idea!!

Notice how far Caeden is standing away from the tree. Then look a little further to the right, and that is where my fishing line got stuck. No where in the vicinity of where i was aiming.

Poor Mike had to paddle the boat out to the tree while we watched on the bank.

It took much longer than these pictures relay because the boat kept drifting away from the tree. Think about standing in a boat trying to maintain your balance, all the while holding one paddle that serves sometimes as a paddle and sometimes as a tool to unhook the fishing line.

Right in the center of this photo,( If you look close enough, or enlarge this picture) you will see the red/white bouy hanging from the line.

He unhooked it, by breaking two branches and thus breaking the line. The hook and lure were still stuck in the tree until the trusy paddle knocked it into the water, never to be seen again

So I have been told that I am officially banned from any and all family fishing trips.

That is disappointing, because I really was trying to catch a fish.

9/9/09 mike has just informed me that I can still attend the fishing trips, just can't use a pole.

Gee thanks

homemade Granola Bars

I adapted this recipe from here who had already adapted it from here

before

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 cup sliced almonds ( i used choped)
• 1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ ( i used flax seeds)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup honey ( I used 1/3 maple syrup and 1/3 cup honey)
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed ( I ommitted this)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 and 1/2 cup cups dried fruit
• i also added a handful of chocolate chips but it made it way too sweet
• 
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 9 by 13-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the flax seeds.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey,maple syrup, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dried fruit and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares.

I placed them in an air tight container.

after

question

Question: What do these 3 things have in common?

1) Riding a bike uphill while towing 80 pounds

2) Driving a giant dumptruck

and

3) Writing a children's story about a made up Fire Train

Answer: they are ALL part of our day yesterday

We rode to the library on bikes. I should say i towed 80 pounds of kids and strollers 4.5 miles to the library yesterday morning. After the library we rode another 4 miles to Woodsmoke to see Daddy and get the car. Daddy was high in the bucket truck cutting trees, so the boys watched and waited to get a ride in the big truck. When we got home, O took a nap and C and I read all the library books, then we decided to write our own story. He wanted it to be about a Fire Train that rescues animals and puts the fire out. I might share it eventually.

The rest of the day my legs were crying out in agony from the bike ride. I am more sore from that ride than from the 26.5 miles. Anything for an adventure!